[Note: the party "Alleanza Nazionale", which belongs to the nowadays
government coalition and has most supporters among the military and
police, derives from the fascist "Movimento Sociale Italiano". It has
barely changed its name in 1992. In the framework of the so-called
"passage to a Second Republic" (1989-1992), "left" forces and
personalities helped it to be included into the "constitutional
block", thus making it "fit" for government coalitions. I.S.]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/nov2002/ital-n21_prn.shtml
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : Italy
Italy: Twenty anti-globalization activists arrested in police sweeps
Charged under Mussolini-era subversion laws
By Stefan Steinberg
21 November 2002
Less than a week after one of the biggest anti-war demonstrations in
Europe since the end of World War II, the Italian judiciary and police
have conducted a large-scale operation against anti-globalisation
protesters.
In the early hours of November 15, police stormed houses and
apartments in a number of cities in southern Italy and arrested 20
representatives of anti-globalisation protest movements. A total of 41
persons are subjects of investigations throughout Italy. They are
suspected of various offences, including violating article 270/270b of
Italian law, breaches of "democratic order" and conspiracy.
The mass demonstration against US war in Iraq took place on November
12 in the Italian city of Florence. The demonstration, which was
peaceful, came at the end of the first meeting of the European Social
Forum, a week of discussions and debates on the social consequences of
globalisation.
Many of those arrested last week participated in and helped organise
the activities of the Forum and the mass demonstration.
Among those arrested are the two leading representatives of the
southern Italian "no global" network, Francesco Caruso and Giuseppe
Fonzino.
Thirteen of the arrested were immediately held in custody in the high
security Trani prison; the remaining seven are under house arrest.
Houses were also searched in a number of Italian cities.
The timing of the arrests, directly after the Forum and demonstration,
make clear that the Italian state is moving rapidly to suppress the
mass movement emerging against war, as well as seeking to neutralise
critics of global capitalism and the government of Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi.
According to newspaper reports, the state prosecutor's office in
Cosenza had conducted a one-and-a-half-year investigation leading to
the arrests.
This probe produced a 360-page file on the activities of the
anti-globalisation protesters and included detailed surveys of 60,000
emails, the systematic surveillance of Internet sites, the shadowing
of suspects, film recordings and wiretaps.
Prosecutors are attempting to prove links between the "no-global"
movement and other anarchist movements that have been active in the
so-called "Black Blocs," which were a source of provocations and
violence in recent demonstrations at the Global Forum in Naples and
the 2001 G-8 summit in Genoa. In fact, recent investigations by
independent legal organisations and filmmakers have made it clear that
police provocateurs and intelligence agents were heavily active in
infiltrating the Black Blocs.
The arrests sparked off immediate protests throughout the country.
Several thousands joined spontaneous street demonstrations last Friday
in Rome and Milan calling for the immediate release of those arrested.
Further mass protests are planned this week in southern Italy and the
city of Naples where many of the arrests took place.
Last Friday also saw demonstrations and blockades by striking Fiat car
workers organised by the Italian trade union FIOM in collaboration
with the "no global" network. According to some newspaper
commentaries, the arrests were also aimed at ensuring that protests
and disruptions by striking workers did not spill over into a more
general movement directed against the Italian government.
A lawyer representing Caruso, one of the accused, commented in a
newspaper interview: "The government is seeking to criminalise the
movement precisely at a time when its policies and forms of action are
finding more and more support amongst ordinary people and in the trade
unions."
Origins of article 270
The majority of charges levelled against the accused are based on
article 270/270b of Italian law, which was introduced and extensively
used by the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini to silence any
opposition, and in particular communist opponents of his rule. Part of
the notorious Leggi di difesa, article 270 enables prosecution merely
on the basis that, according to the prosecutor, the accused were
planning or conspiring to conduct activities detrimental to the
Italian government. Article 270 explicitly refers to the danger of
groups aiming to overthrow the economic order of Italy. Under
Mussolini in the 1930s, mere possession of a Communist leaflet was
sufficient to ensure arrest, prosecution and imprisonment.
The article stipulates that those found guilty (ringleaders) can be
imprisoned for up to 12 years. Supporters of conspiracy can be locked
up for three years. After the collapse of Italian fascism at the end
of the Second World War, article 270 was kept on the books, even as
Italian Communist Party leader Palmiro Togliatti became the first
post-war Italian justice minister. The government reworked the law
following the terror attacks of September 11 and has invoked it with
increasing regularity against its political opponents over the past
few years.
The latest arrests are a clear warning of the sharp lurch to the right
by the Berlusconi government. At the same time, they expose the claims
by leading members of the opposition Olive Tree alliance and
Democratic Left who claimed that after his election Berlusconi would
be forced to take into account post-war Italy's democratic traditions
and moderate his policies. A number of social democrats and
"post-communists" who claimed that Berlusconi could be tamed also
applauded the "restraint" of the Italian police and judiciary
following the peaceful demonstration of November 10.
Now Berlusconi has given his answer. The latest arrests make clear
that his government is prepared to move rapidly and employ the most
extreme methods to strangle any potential opposition to his
government-including the use of fascist laws.
These latest arrests take place in the context of continuous assaults
by the government on democratic rights. Berlusconi has made no secret
of his contempt for those aspects of Italian law that he regards as
obstacles to his drive for economic and political power. Following the
sentencing this week of former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti
to 24 years imprisonment on charges of abetting the murder of a
journalist, Berlusconi once more lashed out at Italian courts and
complained that "politically biased judges have attempted to change
the course of democratic politics and rewrite Italian history."
Copyright 1998-2002
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved
government coalition and has most supporters among the military and
police, derives from the fascist "Movimento Sociale Italiano". It has
barely changed its name in 1992. In the framework of the so-called
"passage to a Second Republic" (1989-1992), "left" forces and
personalities helped it to be included into the "constitutional
block", thus making it "fit" for government coalitions. I.S.]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/nov2002/ital-n21_prn.shtml
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : Italy
Italy: Twenty anti-globalization activists arrested in police sweeps
Charged under Mussolini-era subversion laws
By Stefan Steinberg
21 November 2002
Less than a week after one of the biggest anti-war demonstrations in
Europe since the end of World War II, the Italian judiciary and police
have conducted a large-scale operation against anti-globalisation
protesters.
In the early hours of November 15, police stormed houses and
apartments in a number of cities in southern Italy and arrested 20
representatives of anti-globalisation protest movements. A total of 41
persons are subjects of investigations throughout Italy. They are
suspected of various offences, including violating article 270/270b of
Italian law, breaches of "democratic order" and conspiracy.
The mass demonstration against US war in Iraq took place on November
12 in the Italian city of Florence. The demonstration, which was
peaceful, came at the end of the first meeting of the European Social
Forum, a week of discussions and debates on the social consequences of
globalisation.
Many of those arrested last week participated in and helped organise
the activities of the Forum and the mass demonstration.
Among those arrested are the two leading representatives of the
southern Italian "no global" network, Francesco Caruso and Giuseppe
Fonzino.
Thirteen of the arrested were immediately held in custody in the high
security Trani prison; the remaining seven are under house arrest.
Houses were also searched in a number of Italian cities.
The timing of the arrests, directly after the Forum and demonstration,
make clear that the Italian state is moving rapidly to suppress the
mass movement emerging against war, as well as seeking to neutralise
critics of global capitalism and the government of Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi.
According to newspaper reports, the state prosecutor's office in
Cosenza had conducted a one-and-a-half-year investigation leading to
the arrests.
This probe produced a 360-page file on the activities of the
anti-globalisation protesters and included detailed surveys of 60,000
emails, the systematic surveillance of Internet sites, the shadowing
of suspects, film recordings and wiretaps.
Prosecutors are attempting to prove links between the "no-global"
movement and other anarchist movements that have been active in the
so-called "Black Blocs," which were a source of provocations and
violence in recent demonstrations at the Global Forum in Naples and
the 2001 G-8 summit in Genoa. In fact, recent investigations by
independent legal organisations and filmmakers have made it clear that
police provocateurs and intelligence agents were heavily active in
infiltrating the Black Blocs.
The arrests sparked off immediate protests throughout the country.
Several thousands joined spontaneous street demonstrations last Friday
in Rome and Milan calling for the immediate release of those arrested.
Further mass protests are planned this week in southern Italy and the
city of Naples where many of the arrests took place.
Last Friday also saw demonstrations and blockades by striking Fiat car
workers organised by the Italian trade union FIOM in collaboration
with the "no global" network. According to some newspaper
commentaries, the arrests were also aimed at ensuring that protests
and disruptions by striking workers did not spill over into a more
general movement directed against the Italian government.
A lawyer representing Caruso, one of the accused, commented in a
newspaper interview: "The government is seeking to criminalise the
movement precisely at a time when its policies and forms of action are
finding more and more support amongst ordinary people and in the trade
unions."
Origins of article 270
The majority of charges levelled against the accused are based on
article 270/270b of Italian law, which was introduced and extensively
used by the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini to silence any
opposition, and in particular communist opponents of his rule. Part of
the notorious Leggi di difesa, article 270 enables prosecution merely
on the basis that, according to the prosecutor, the accused were
planning or conspiring to conduct activities detrimental to the
Italian government. Article 270 explicitly refers to the danger of
groups aiming to overthrow the economic order of Italy. Under
Mussolini in the 1930s, mere possession of a Communist leaflet was
sufficient to ensure arrest, prosecution and imprisonment.
The article stipulates that those found guilty (ringleaders) can be
imprisoned for up to 12 years. Supporters of conspiracy can be locked
up for three years. After the collapse of Italian fascism at the end
of the Second World War, article 270 was kept on the books, even as
Italian Communist Party leader Palmiro Togliatti became the first
post-war Italian justice minister. The government reworked the law
following the terror attacks of September 11 and has invoked it with
increasing regularity against its political opponents over the past
few years.
The latest arrests are a clear warning of the sharp lurch to the right
by the Berlusconi government. At the same time, they expose the claims
by leading members of the opposition Olive Tree alliance and
Democratic Left who claimed that after his election Berlusconi would
be forced to take into account post-war Italy's democratic traditions
and moderate his policies. A number of social democrats and
"post-communists" who claimed that Berlusconi could be tamed also
applauded the "restraint" of the Italian police and judiciary
following the peaceful demonstration of November 10.
Now Berlusconi has given his answer. The latest arrests make clear
that his government is prepared to move rapidly and employ the most
extreme methods to strangle any potential opposition to his
government-including the use of fascist laws.
These latest arrests take place in the context of continuous assaults
by the government on democratic rights. Berlusconi has made no secret
of his contempt for those aspects of Italian law that he regards as
obstacles to his drive for economic and political power. Following the
sentencing this week of former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti
to 24 years imprisonment on charges of abetting the murder of a
journalist, Berlusconi once more lashed out at Italian courts and
complained that "politically biased judges have attempted to change
the course of democratic politics and rewrite Italian history."
Copyright 1998-2002
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved